Fruit of a Poisonous Tree

Rating:
Summary: Stop the book, I want to get off!
Review: Fruit of a Poisonous Tree fully lives up to its pre-publication press, delivering fast, just this side of out-of-control exploits, and characters at once believable and sympathetic. Norm Harris's acclaimed thriller is a sensation in his native USA and is fast catching on here on the other side of The Big Pond. His approach is irreverent and stylish with a high-octane sense of furious action. It's violent, moving, political, well researched and will take you gleefully in one gulp.

Commander Faydra Green is investigating a murder. Accused is Captain Egan Fletcher - innocent, but a pawn in a massive cover-up. Their meeting launches them on an action-packed voyage that takes them halfway around the world. At stake, a catastrophic biological war.

As an avid reader, I found Harris's style refreshingly stripped of superfluous adjectives and adverbs. He tells it like it is - straight to the point - and this gives his story a sense of urgency that is missing in other writers. As the plot thickens and the suspense builds, the pace quickens until the powerful climactic scenes that leave you gripping the pages.

This book's a must for lovers of action thrillers.

Rating:
Summary: Amazing
Review: I found this book extraordinarily impressive. I read it in a day and a night and was blown away by its exact, original and modern voice. The author uses prose like a knife thrower, coming up with rapier-like words or phrases that cut to the quick. If this is his debut novel, he has turned out a classic - equal to any of the 'names' in bookmanship.

Norm Harris has penned phrases that could be destined to become part of the standard repertoire of the English language. Classic understatements, efficient descriptions, knowledge of his subject. Amongst thriller writers, he may be the new kid on the block, but he's likely to become leader of the gang.

Rating:
Summary: Great Plot, Great Writing
Review: Filled with suspense, intrigue, and memorable descriptions of the sea's beauty, and her treachery, Norm Harris's 'Fruit of a Poisonous Tree' launches US Navy surface Captain Egan Fletcher and JAG lawyer Commander Faydra Green on their individual star-crossed careers in an outstanding nautical yarn. This is a book with a great premise and a book with all the tension of a really good suspense novel. It's one of those on-the-run stories that features both appealing officers and lower-echelon military personnel for whom God, duty, honour, and country are not just words but credos.

The plot is complex but tightly knit and well controlled, with devastating subplots erupting in, of all places, a quaint (?) little third world nation know as Chosun (actually North Korea -today's powder keg). Naturally, the book bristles like a raging sea battle with intricate military hardware, from ghost ships to top-secret spy planes - like the Aurora, which the US Air Force still denies exists. Trailing in the wake is a whole bundle of intrigue and even a touch of romance that floats just below the surface, like a submarine waiting to rise when the moment is right. And when it did finally break out it happened with such suddenness and with such tenderness that I found myself reaching for a tissue (metaphorically, of course! I'm a doctor - I'm used to these things!)

Don't go away with the impression that this is a Clancy lookalike (though it's difficult to avoid the similarities in a novel of such depth and accuracy). In 'Fruit of a Poisonous Tree' author Harris sets his own course and spins his own tale of piracy, deception, high treason, and murder - though maybe Clancy will be forced to step aside soon and make way for some younger blood.

A great story with a great plot. You shouldn't miss it.

Rating:
Summary: An amazing debut
Review: Fruit of a Poisonous Tree is Norm Harris's debut novel, and he's made a darn good job of it. Though it is written in Harris's own unique style, it's as well researched and as well crafted as any Clancy novel. In a tightly controlled plot, Harris relates the story of a naval Captain (Egan Fletcher) who is accused of murder. His JAG lawyer, Faydra Green, is drawn in to defend him - her first murder defense. The obstacles that beset her in her search for the truth mount as the story progresses and it becomes clear that she's looking at a cover-up. But how to get to the truth?

Classic line (and I see one of the other reviewers has picked up on it)... "We have three dead servicemen, a sunk naval vessel, a crashed spy plane, an intelligence black budget two-billion-dollars light, and two crashed airliners. Not to mention several hundred dead airline passengers. Did I leave anything out?" That tells you more about this novel than I ever could.

With a trail of missing bodies, missing records, non-existent people, Harris's book will keep you reading to the last page (what my Mom always used to call a 'lick-yer-finger' book - she used to lick her finger as she turned the pages). You'll be glad you bought it. Well done, author Harris.

Rating:
Summary: Fascinating plot twists
Review: I must admit that I was apprehensive when I learned that this was a “military” oriented story. But I believed the glowing reviews I had read and pushed on. I have now read the book twice; just to be sure I didn’t miss something the first time through. There is just so much going on. From the believable and dedicated servicemen and women of high integrity and courage, to the fascinating plot twists, to the warm and tender moments, often comic, to action scenes that ooze with tension and outright excitement. The scene where Navy Commander Faydra Green lawyer (JAG) turned detective, scuba dives, at night, down to the wreck of a sunk Navy ship, in North Korean territorial waters, she is immersed in total blackness, knowing full well there could be a monster shark hovering in front of her very nose, or that she could be captured by the Koreans and shot as a spy. The author's description of the scene gave me goose bumps and I found myself in need of a double-shot margarita at the end of the chapter. Faydra summed it up best when she stated, “We have three dead servicemen, a sunk naval vessel, a crashed spy plane, an intelligence black budget two-billion-dollars light, and two crashed airliners. Not to mention several hundred dead airline passengers. Did I leave anything out?” To which Green’s sidekick, Petty Officer Pearce, who quotes Charlie Chan like some people quote Keats or Shakespeare (I simply loved this woman) adds, “The impending doom, ma’am.” Green then responds, “Not to mention, we have ringside seats for the war of the century.” Simply put but that says it all about Fruit of a Poisonous Tree. I agree...that this story would make a great motion picture.

Rating:
Summary: A Plausable And Timely Story
Review: I read Fruit of a Poisonous Tree with two minds. One, as a reader who enjoys a good story, and the other as an author, enjoying reading a fellow author as he plies his craft. When I found out that the main charactor was female, I wondered how successful Mr. Harris would be at writing from the female perspective. He's done a wonderful job of it: the dialogue was crisp and believable, the characters were well developed and real, and the story was not only plausable but timely. The gentleman who is my seatmate on the commuter train I take every day to Boston was reading the book over my shoulder. Every once in a while he'd ask me to slow down so he could catch up with me. (I surpassed him by reading the book at home and left him to order his own copy of Fruit from a Poisonous Tree.) He read the book over the following weekend and was just as impressed as I was with the book. We discussed the book in detail and concluded that Mr. Harris has a winner on his hands. I hope Hollywood is paying attention and reads Fruit of a Poisonous Tree and offers Mr. Harris the first of many movie contracts.

Rating:
Summary: Fressh new author
Review: When a young Navy SEAL is savagely murdered in a Seattle alley, presumably by a Marine Corps war hero, Navy lawyer Faydra Green is ordered to investigate. Although this is her first homicide assignment, it does not take Faydra long to decide the accused man is innocent.

Someone wants her investigation to quietly disappear, but Faydra is determined to clear the accused man's name, discover why she has been made an accessory to a cover up, and find out who is responsible. But she will need all her wits about her to unravel the intricate web of lies and deception that stand between her and the answers she seeks.

Faydra's quest for the truth launches her on a heart-pounding voyage across the world in a desperate race against time. Along the way, she will contend with the murky backwaters of governmental dirty deals and international intrigue, follow every lead, and risk her life in a bid to halt a catastrophic conflict that has three nations on the brink of war.

Norm Harris captures the reader right away. As an author, I was impressed with his characters, dialoge and knowledge in the area of military law and military operations. Full of action and executed in a very fast pace.

Rating:
Summary: Average story line, too many distractions
Review: I hate to give a review like this. From his biography, Norm Harris seems like a nice guy. Unfortunately, for only maybe the third or fourth time in my life, I could not finish his book.

Maybe the problem was my expectations were too high. Prior to purchasing the book online, I had read several glowing reviews. I couldnt't wait to begin reading. However, I was sorely disappointed. Hard as I tried, I could not relate to the characters. They seemed like cardboard cut-outs. Their actions were driven by the plot. The plot itself seemed contrived and simply wasn't very interesting (after a fairly compelling beginning).

My main complaint was the typographical errors. I seemed to find one on every page. Words were misspelled. Grammatical errors were prevalent. A character known only as "Mr. Smith" (for example) would be referred to in the next paragraph as "Ralph". Reference was made to "Caspar the Friendly Ghost". I always thought it was "Casper". Sentences either contained too many commas or not enough. These errors were ultimately too distracting and prevented me from focusing on the story.

**To Mr. Harris's credit, I learned after that the book was self-published; Mr. Harris did not have the assistance of a professional editor and/or publishing house.

Rating:
Summary: Norm Harris is out of the gate with a certified winner!
Review: As the author of Strike Hard, and an avid reader of conspiracy suspense novels, I was quite taken by Norm Harris' freshman novel "Fruit of a Poisonous Tree". I found the story to be well-written and fast-paced, with a generous helping of suspense, action, and a number of other qualities.

Set in the Northwest, Fruit of a Poisonous Tree exemplifies the age-old suspicion that the government will go to any lengths to cover-up its activities. Norm Harris has captured this in bold style, showing how the government has no thoughts at all of ruining one person's life for the sake of keeping their secrets.

Being a former U.S. Army NCO, I could relate to a lot of the scenes in the book that dealt with the everyday doldrums of military life. The dialog was as realistic as any average encounter in the military, and did not detract from anything. In fact, the story was written in such a way that I found myself wondering if Norm had been following his characters around and writing this story as it were actually happening.

Norm Harris has proven, in his first outing, that the world can fully expect to see more from him. His style and prose shows a self-confidence that can only be a forecast of the work coming from this author in the future.

Rating:
Summary: Average story line, too many distractions
Review: I hate to give a review like this. From his biography, Norm Harris seems like a nice guy. Unfortunately, for only maybe the third or fourth time in my life, I could not finish his book.

Maybe the problem was my expectations were too high. Prior to purchasing the book online, I had read several glowing reviews. I couldnt't wait to begin reading. However, I was sorely disappointed. Hard as I tried, I could not relate to the characters. They seemed like cardboard cut-outs. Their actions were driven by the plot. The plot itself seemed contrived and simply wasn't very interesting (after a fairly compelling beginning).

My main complaint was the typographical errors. I seemed to find one on every page. Words were misspelled. Grammatical errors were prevalent. A character known only as "Mr. Smith" (for example) would be referred to in the next paragraph as "Ralph". Reference was made to "Caspar the Friendly Ghost". I always thought it was "Casper". Sentences either contained too many commas or not enough. These errors were ultimately too distracting and prevented me from focusing on the story.

**To Mr. Harris's credit, I learned after that the book was self-published; Mr. Harris did not have the assistance of a professional editor and/or publishing house.